Club captain Robert Murphy has shot to the lead of the Bulldogs’ voting in the AFL Coaches Association Champion Player of the Year award, after an inspired performance in the Dogs’ gritty four-point win against the Swans in round six.

Murphy polled seven votes to take him to 18 overall and now sits four votes ahead of Jake Stringer.

Bulldogs coached Luke Beveridge said Murphy’s influence on the match was invaluable.

“He got tagged today… he had to deal with that and still do what he can defensively and offensively.

“He’s an outstanding player and he’s such a great person and his teammates are feeding off his passion for them and our footy club.”

Liam Picken polled nine out of a possible ten votes after a career-high 33 disposals and 12 tackles earned him the nod for best on ground.

Sydney’s Dan Hannebery was the next highest vote-getter on the day after he collected 37 disposals and ten tackles, and now sits second behind Fremantle’s Nat Fyfe on the overall leaderboard.

Round five votes – Sydney v Western Bulldogs

9 Liam Picken (WB)

8 Dan Hannebery (Syd)

7 Robert Murphy (WB)

2 Marcus Bontempelli (WB)

2 Mike Pyke (Syd)

1 Luke Dahlhaus (WB)

1 Easton Wood (WB)     

Western Bulldogs leader board

18 Robert Murphy (WB)

14 Jake Stringer (WB)

14 Liam Picken (WB)

12 Marcus Bontempelli (WB)
6 Matthew Boyd (WB)

6 Tory Dickson (WB)

5 Michael Talia (WB)

4 Will Minson (WB)

3 Luke Dahlhaus (WB)

1 Jack Macrae (WB)

1 Mitch Wallis (WB)

1 Easton Wood (WB)

Overall leader board

42 Nat Fyfe (Fre)

30 Dan Hannebery (Syd)
29 Scott Pendlebury (Coll)
29 Dylan Shiel (GWS)
21 David Armitage (StK)
21 Josh Kennedy (WC)
21 Tom McDonald (Melb)
21 David Mundy (Fre)
21 Rory Sloane (Adel)
20 Todd Goldstein (NM)